I first met His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1996. Accompanying me was aparliamentarian and two other friends. We were fortunate enough tohave a private audience with him. When I said we were from Indonesia,he immediately reacted: "Oh yes, yes, yes ... Indonesia .... Tibet hasvery strong relations, strong ties with Indonesia." | Mon,03/24/2008 1:10 AM | Opinion

"Atisha, was a monk from India. He went to Indonesia to learn from theIndonesian master," he said.

Fortunately, I knew the story.

Indeed, not many Indonesians remember we used to be a treasure houseof wisdom. We did not import spirituality from India; indeed, even theIndian pundits came to our archipelago to learn from our indigenousmasters.

Later, Atisha traveled to Tibet, where he propagated the teachings ofhis master.

The meditation he taught is still being practiced by the Tibetans. Itis called Tong-Len, literally meaning "The Meditation of Terima andKasih, Receiving and Giving". The common phrase terima kasih, nowmeaning "thank you", is no ordinary phrase.

There's a deep philosophy behind it. It reflects our view of life andit projects our deep rooted belief. We, Indonesians, believe, or atleast once believed, in the law of gratitude. We do not, or did not,need a movie like The Secret to tell us to "be grateful" for all wereceive from the universe.

More than 800 years ago, the Indian pundit traveled to Sumatra, thenknown as Svarna Dvipa, to learn from Dharmakirti Suvarnadvipi,Dharmakirti of Svarna Dvipa. He spent more than 10 years with hismaster. He documented each word he heard and each lesson he learned.

We, Indonesians, do not have any record of this.

Later, this meditation would be used by Tibetan medicine men anddoctors. They would imagine their patients' pain and draw it intothemselves. This is the first part of meditation, terima -- receiving.Then, in the second part, they would send out their energy of wellbeing, kasih -- giving.

The was technique soon replaced their herb-based anesthesia. Let meremind you again, all this happened over 800 years ago.

The beauty of this technique is, the receiver of pain, the recipient,can process pain and transform it into well-being. All negativitiescan be drawn into oneself, be processed and then projected out aspositive energy.

Now the technique is being used by many Western neurologists, as partof transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy, to relieve the sufferingof some stroke victims.

"But I have to emphasize, we haven't got a clue what's going on," saidMax Bennett, professor at the University of Sydney and one of theworld's top neurologists.

"It's a phenomenon. But in one sense, it does indicate that there area lot of things that we know nothing about in Western science," he said.

"We know by the year about 2020, the greatest disabling phenomenon forthe health of the human race will be depression. Not cancer, not heartdisease, but depression," he said.

This drug-free technique from our own archipelago can ultimatelyreplace the expensive morphine-based pain killers.

When discussing the Chinese occupation of his homeland, the Dalai Lamasaid, "This is the meditation which frees me from hatred. I use itevery day to send out positive energy and feelings to the Chinese."

I personally can never ever forget the words of the Dalai Lama: "WeTibetans are always thankful to Indonesia and Indonesians, for thisbeautiful Tong Len teaching."

Those of you who have seen and heard him may recall the way he speaks.He uses minimal words, short sentences and is not burdened by thesophisticates of English grammar.

I bear witness to Dalai Lama's terima kasih for us, Indonesians andour land, Indonesia. I stand witness to his gratefulness, his gratitude.

Now, as Indonesians let's remind ourselves of what it means to bethanked. It is kembali kasih, and when reading between the lines itmeans "I am equally grateful to you."

Unlike the American "welcome" and British "never mind", Indonesiansreturn "gratitude with gratitude". Let us now face the mirror of ourconsciousness and let us check the face of our souls. Have we returnedthe Tibetan gratitude with gratitude?

For almost a millennium the Tibetans have preserved the missing pagesof our history. They have preserved them with a sense of gratitude.What have we done for them? How do we return our gratitude to them?

The European Union, the United States, the United Nations andcountries like Poland, Germany, India and Taiwan have all commented onthe recent uprising in Tibet against the illegal occupation of theirhomeland by the Communist regime of China.

What do we have to say? Perhaps we find it more comfortable to remainsilent as we have been doing recently. But, let us remind ourselvesthis is not our tradition, this is not our culture.

Let us remind ourselves of what Sukarno, the father of our nation,once said: "Freedom to be free* For, of what use would be 'freedomfrom fear'; of what use would be 'freedom to express, freedom tobelieve, and freedom from poverty, freedom from fear' -- if there isno 'freedom to be free?'"

Time and again, Sukarno would repeat that the fruits of Indonesia'sfreedom would not be enjoyed by Indonesians alone and that Indonesiawould unceasingly work for the freedom of all peoples from all lands.

I have no space left to discuss the illegalities of the Chineseoccupation of Tibet. Any student of history cannot but condemn theoccupation. We, as a nation, must immediately stand up against theoccupation. Otherwise, generations to come may laugh at our cowardice,unclear foreign policies and our negligence toward history. Aside fromthe Tibetan issue, I am afraid our attitude may ultimately harm us.

The writer is a spiritual activist and author of more than 110 books(www.aumkar. org, www.anandkrishna. org, www.californiabali. org).